Folding carton



April 11, 1956 J, HI KI 2,742,221

FOLDING CARTON Filed March 15, 1954 IN VENTOR ATTORNEY United States Patent M FOLDING CARTON Robert J. Hickin, Seville, Ohio, assignor toThe Ohio Boxboard Company, Rittman, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio K Application March 15, 1954, Serial No. 416,104

' g 2 Claims. Cl. 229-31 This invention relates to folding paperboard cartons, and it is directed primarily to a modification of parts of folding cartons of known construction whereby the blanks therefor may more readily be set up byv automatic or semi-automatic machinery and their cooperative parts secured in set-up condition.

To this end the invention comprises the provision of glue tabs partially cut from certain friction flaps normally provided for maintaining the carton parts in set-up condition, such tabs being capable, by virtue of the inherent resiliency of the paperboard material, of automatically departing, or offstanding, from the planes of the flaps from which they are cut to thus yieldingly engage, or wipe over, the surface of an adjacent part of the carton as it is being erected to set-up condition and thus to be autoinatically engaged with and adhered to adhesive applied Fig. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary sectional elevation taken in a plane passing medially through an end wall assembly of the set-up carton of Fig. 3.

As hereinbefore indicated, the blank shown in Fig. 1 is, aside from the modifications provided in accordance with the invention, of known form, and comprises a sheet of appropriate paperboard material provided with cuts and folding scores to produce a bottom wall element 1, similar side wall elements 2, and similar end wall elements comprising outer end wall members 3 and inner end wall members 4. The side wall elements 2 are foldable to erected set-up condition substantially normal to the bottom wall element 1 upon longitudinal folding scores 5, and the two-part end wall elements are similarly foldable upon transverse folding scores 6. Folding scores 7 arranged medially transversely of the end wall elements define their outer and inner members 3 and 4, respectively.

The outer end wall members 3 are joined to the ends of the side wall elements 2 by corner webs 8 defined therefrom by folding scores 9 and 10, respectively, and these corner webs are provided with diagonal folding scores 11. The inner end wall members 4 are provided on their lateral edges with friction flaps 12 and on their free or outer edges with friction fiaps 13, these flaps being defined by folding scores 14' and 15, respectively.

In accordance with the invention, the folding scores 9, 11, 14 and 15 of the corner webs 8 and friction flaps 12 between them and the said adjacent carton part, all as "ice and 13 are preferably of spaced out and score type in order to facilitate proper and ready relative folding of these parts when the carton is erected to set-up condition (Fig. 3) by automatic orsemi-automatic machinery; It will be apparent that in erecting this known type of folding carton blank to'set-up condition the upward folding of theside wall elements 2 and end wall elements 34, substantially normal 'tothe bottom wall "1', upon their respective folding scores Sand 6 will cause the corner webs 8 tofoldupon the folding scores 9 and 10 which connect them .with the end and side wall elements, respectively, and upon the'ir diagonal folding scores'l l, so as to be flat-folded against the'outer end-wall members 3 (Fig. 2) and thus serve to anchor the sidewall andouter end wall elements in erected condition when the inner end wall members'are turned inwardly (Fig. 3) in substantial juxtaposition to the outer end wall members with their'fri'ction flaps 12 and 13 in frictional engagement with the sideand bottom wall'elements land 1, respectively, with the thus folded corner-webs between them.

It, sometimes happens, when this type of carton is made of relatively heavy, or inherently sprin'gy, paperboard material such as would'be required for the packaging of bulky or loosely packed articles, that the frictional engagement of the friction flaps 12 and 13 with theadjacentcarton walls is not sufiicient to maintain the'des ired set-up condition inasmuch as the inner'end wall members 4 have a tendency to spring away from the outer endwall members 3 upon the folding'scores 7. Also this may occur after the carton is setup and before it 'is lfilledwith the commodity to be packaged. In any event, this type of failure will be a cause of annoyance and loss of packaging time, both of which must, if possible, be avoided in the interest of etficiency and economy.

In accordance with the invention each of the bottom wall engaging friction flaps 13 is provided with cuts defining a glue tab 16. yieldingly hinged upon the respective folding score 15 and capable of departing from the plane of its respective flap 13 when the latter is wiped to operative position in the setting up of the carton so that these tabs 16 will be certain to yieldingly engage the bottom wall 1. Thus, when spots of adhesive 17 (preferably quick-setting) (Figs l, 2, and 4) are applied to the bottom wall 1 adjacent to the folding scores 6 of the end wall elements and in position for engagement by the tabs 16 as they wipe over the bottom wall, this adhesive will serve to attach the glue tabs, and hence the inner end wall members 4, to the bottom wall, to thereby maintain Y the set-up condition of the carton.

It Will be noted, particularly as shown in Fig. 4, that the slight beads produced by the longitudinal folding scores 5, when the side wall elements 2 are erected, have a tendency to support the bottom-engaging friction flaps 13 of the inner end wall members 4 out of contact with the bottom, thus, to an extent, defeating their intended frictional engagement with the bottom Wall. The automatic displacement of the glue tabs 16 downwardly from the plane of theflaps 13, due to the inherent resiliency of the paperboard material at their folding scores 15, however, insures that these tabs will rather tenaciously yieldingly engage, or wipe against, the bottom wall, thus insuring their adhesion and attachment thereto in the presence of the interposed adhesive.

Conceivably, the adhesive might be applied to the glue tabs 16 rather than to the bottom wall, but in the erection of the carton to set-up condition by automatic or semiautomatic machinery it hasrbeen found expedient to deposit the spots of adhesive 17 upon the bottom wall 1, as shown, just prior to in-folding of the inner end wall members 4.

Patented Apr; 17, 1956 t -VariQLis-ch'angeS and modifications are considere'd to be. within theprinciple of the inventionand the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a carton comprising a plurality :of walls relatively .folda ble to tray. .form, a' bottom wall, an'end wall elefoldable upon such scores substantially normal to said ment defined from said botto'm wall by a'first folding score and foldableupon such score substantially normal to said bottom wall, said endJ wall element including an outer member and an inner member defined .from each other by a folding score inparallelism with said first folding score and arranged substantially intermediate the length V ofsaid element, and said inner and outer members being relatively foldable upon said intermediate score into substantially juxtaposed assembly; said inner member having at: itstree endta friction flap defined from it by a folding s'core parallel with said intermediate score'and being foldable uponsaid parallel score into position substantially parallel with said bottom wall, a glue tab cut from said friction flap and connected with said inner member along saidparallel score and capable of .ofistanding from' the plane 'of said flap into wiping contact with the bottom wall independently of the body of said flap by bending 7 ,saidytab to said .spot of adhesive.

.2.- In a. carton comprising a plurality of walls relatively foldable to tray form, a bottom wall, a pair of similar end wall elements each defined from said bottom wall .by a first folding score, said end wall elements being bottom .wall, each of said end wall elements including an outer member and an inner member defined from each other by a folding score in parallelism with the said first folding score of the element and arranged substantially intermediate the length of said element, and said inner and outer members being relatively foldable upon said intermediate score into substantially juxtaposed assembly, the said inner member of each of said end wall elements having at its free end a friction flap defined from it by a folding score parallel with its said intermediate score'and being foldable upon said parallel score-into position substantially parallel with said bottom wall, a glue tab cut from the said friction flap of each of said end wall elements and connected with the said inner member thereof along its said parallel score and capable of offstanding from the plane of'said flap into wiping contact with the bottom wall independently of the body of said flap by bending action on said parallel score, and a spot of adhesive locatedupon said bot-tomwall adjacent to the said first folding-score of each of said end wall elements and in position for contact by the tab of the adjacent end wall element, said tabs thereby being capable of engaging said spots of adhesive when-the end wall elements are erected in juxtaposed assembly normal to saidbottom wall to thereby eliect stable erection of said end wall elements by adhesion of said tabs to said spots of adhesive.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Ringler Nov. 5, 1940 

